PnF: Stuck Like Brothers
by Sols06
Summary: Takes Place As Teenagers - Brothers are close, but a backfired project puts Phineas and Ferb a little closer. Fused at the elbow, they stumble about going through a day with three arms. But awkward stares aren't their only issue, when Phineas and Ferb discover a problematic side effect: They are linked by a little more than bones! No pairings, no slash.
1. Chapter 1

PnF: Stuck Like Brothers

*Total Number of Chapters: 13*

*One Chapter Posted Per Day*

**Chapter 1**

"Three more tightens!" Phineas called out as the teenager spun his wrench around a nut on the side of their newly-built machine. "Aaaaand... Done!"

He stood back beside his brother Ferb as they both looked over their handiwork. Two metal platforms sat raised on either side, joined by a bulky central shaft. Each platform was covered by its own shield; one was red and one was blue.

Phineas grabbed his basketball that was sitting at the corner of the lawn, and they were just about to start the test run when their sister, Candace, came bursting out from the house.

"Alright, what does this thing do?" she demanded.

"Glad you came out, Candace! You're just in time for us to show you!" Phineas congratulated, coming over to place the ball on the red platform.

"It's a remote-control maker," Phineas explained as he pointed over to Ferb, who was standing next to the blue platform. He held up the familiar-looking television remote.

"See, if Ferb puts the remote over there," Phineas explained as Ferb did so. "We can make it control anything!"

He and Ferb ran over to a big button that was lying in the grass, and he put his foot on it. "See! It makes a link between the two. Now we can make it fast forward, rewind, pause, record-"

"You're messing up the TV remote? Oohh, Mom's going to be so mad!" Candace cackled as she headed back towards the house. A loud barking erupted from behind the yard fence.

"Gah! Ever since the neighbors got that new puppy I can't even hear myself THINK around here!" Candace complained, reaching the sliding glass door.

"Aw," Phineas said, disappointed. "She's gonna miss all the fun."

By the time Candace got inside, the creation had stopped whirring. Ferb came over to the blue platform and took up the remote.

"Shall we test it, anyway?" he asked as Phineas grabbed the basketball. Phineas nodded ecstatically, then turned to the concrete driveway. He pulled the ball over his head and tossed it squarely on the surface, causing it to bounce back up with a firm curve.

Pointing the little black remote at the air, Ferb tried some of the buttons. At each press, the ball waved through the wind, first backwards, then quickly forwards, before finally stopping in mid-flight.

"Cool!" Phineas approved, walking under it to pull it out of the suspended nothingness. "Let's try other things!"

"Hold up," Ferb stopped him with a glance at the red platform. "Looks like the oil is leaking over here."

Phineas followed his interest, and saw that the valve was dripping so much that it was overflowing into the little cup that they were using as a catch.

Ferb got out a rag to reach over and start wiping the far side of the platform.

"Is the blue one okay?" Phineas asked with a sideways glance to the other end.

"I'm not sure, but go check it in case," Ferb replied, stretching further over the red base to swipe a particularly diligent stain.

"Nope, it's not leaking over here," Phineas called out. "But for some reason the valve is open."

Putting his hand on the blue base for support, Phineas moved his fingers to start to close the little metal wheel.

The incessant barking still continued from over the fence. It then grew slightly louder; Phineas looked over and saw that the little dog had peeked its head through a slit in the fence.

"Aww, look at the puppy, Ferb!" Phineas said, putting his elbow on the platform so that he could put his chin in his hand. Ferb also took a break in his cleaning to look over, but kept his oil-covered hands reached far over the metal base lest he get it wiped all over his shirt.

The puppy put its paws on the wood and squiggled through, clearly determined on something. Right ahead of its nose was a bright purple butterfly, fluttering carefree in zigzags.

Leaping back and forth without direction, the puppy never took his eyes off his prize. The butterfly rose and dove with no heed to its pursuer, before gracefully floating down to land lightly and gently on the large button in the middle of the lawn.

"Hey, wait..." Phineas started, straightening up a bit. "Puppy, don't-!"

But Phineas' words went unheard, as the little dog had already launched himself in a child-like attack. He caught the butterfly satisfactorily under both paws, growling in victory as his footing moved the button slowly downwards.

* * *

Phineas blinked as he pushed himself up from his spot lying in the grass. The machine was a good ten feet away, and Phineas realized that he had no idea what had happened.

He quickly looked around the yard, searching for Ferb. Phineas then found him lying silently in the grass beside him, his eyes closed and unresponsive.

It was then that Phineas noticed the sharp ache in his right arm. It was mostly coming from his elbow, and quickly he looked down to check for red spots.

What he saw made him sit up in surprise. In the spot on his arm where his elbow _should_ have been, was instead the start of _Ferb's_ upper arm. They were sharing a single forearm.

"Ferb!" Phineas exclaimed loudly as he reached over and shook Ferb's shoulder strongly. "Ferb Ferb Ferb! Wake up!"

With a moan, Ferb tried to blink his eyes as he began to sit up. Phineas then took two fingers and ran them all along the length of his own right arm. He kept his gaze on Ferb, who had still not fully awakened.

"Ferb…" Phineas said with his fingers on the arm. "…Can you feel that?"

"Of course…?" he replied with a confused tone, rubbing his head. "Why wouldn't I be able to feel my own-?"

He stopped when he had focused his gaze on the single arm to his left. Propping up a bit on his other elbow, Ferb just kept looking at his left arm with examination.

"Huh," he said after a while. "Well, that's not at ALL what it was supposed to do."

Both of them stayed lying in the grass for a few minutes, neither daring to make a move. They just kept their gazes fixed squarely on their arm. Phineas once poked it.

"Uhh… what do we do?" Phineas whispered lightly, turning over to look at Ferb.

Ferb pushed up a little more to a sitting position. "Well, let's start by standing up," he said, using both of his arms to press into the grass so that he could get on his feet.

"Yeah… good idea," Phineas agreed as he followed Ferb's lead upwards. He then returned to staring at their arm. "Ferb… whose is it?"

Ferb pulled it up to his eyes. He looked at it intricately as he moved each finger individually, and flexed them all into a fist. Then he returned it to his side, and turned to Phineas inquisitively.

Phineas stared back for a second, before also moving his right arm to eye level. He, too, wiggled the fingers and bowed them up and down.

"…It's both of ours," Ferb returned.

"Freaky…" was Phineas' simple observation.

Tipping up towards the sky, Ferb squinted at it. "It's getting dark out already, and I can't see anything out here. Let's go inside and get it under a light."

"I'm following you," Phineas prompted.

They cleared all the various papers, bolts, and screws off of the worktable in the garage. Soon they had set their arm lain out on the wooden surface, though neither of them knew who actually put it up there. Ferb pulled over the bright working lamp as he rolled up his long-sleeve shirt so that they both could get a better look at the spot where the two were joined.

"Ferb," Phineas pointed out. "We have two thumbs."

Sure enough, as Ferb ran his gaze along its length he saw that their palm had a clear six fingers: four in the center and a thumb on either side. He also noted that all four fingers looked roughly the same, and there was no distinguishable difference between a pinky and a pointer finger.

"One for each of us, I suppose…" he tried to explain. Returning to his examination, Ferb pressed a few fingers into the skin of the arm.

_I wonder if there's two bones in there, fused together, _he thought as he bent forward a bit to gain a better angle.

"No, then it would be thicker," Phineas replied. "I kinda seems like it's just one arm and both our elbows are on the same joint."

Ferb quickly sat back up into a regular sitting position and stared in disbelief at his brother. "Phineas… why did you just say that?"

"Well, you were wondering about if they were fused together or not," Phineas elaborated. "So I was just theorizing with you."

"Exactly, Phineas… I was _wondering_ that," Ferb revealed to him slowly. "I never said it out loud."

"Really?" Phineas said, responding by closing his eyes lightly.

_Does that mean we can read our minds?_ he thought deliberately.

A wide grin crossed over Ferb as he mirrored Phineas' action.

_Maaayyybeee…._

"Sweet!" Phineas exclaimed. "That's awesome!"

He settled down for a second, before reaching over again to feel their arm. "But, you know it wasn't really supposed to do this…."

"Yeah," Ferb agreed. "I have no idea why it did that."

They both continued their detailed examination, before Ferb finally suggested, "Do you think we should get an X-ray?"

Phineas took a moment to think through it. "…But we can't go to the hospital, Ferb. I've seen those documentaries, when things like this happen all they would want to think of is separating us. Even if we're not hurt! I mean, I don't see anything particularly _wrong_ with being attached to each other."

Moving around and forward slightly, Phineas lifted Ferb's sleeve again. He looked closely at where their elbows met. "Besides… how WOULD they separate us?"

Ferb glanced down at it, and shuddered with the thought. "Right, I'll have to agree with you on that. No surgeries."

Rubbing the side of his own shoulder to gain some warmth, Phineas remarked, "It's getting kind of cold in here. Let's head inside."

Awkwardly hopping off of their stools, Phineas and Ferb both went together to sneak into the door leading to the house.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

_Ferbferbferbferbferb-!_

_Yes...?_

_I'm in your braaain._

…_Yes, yes you are._

"Okay!" Phineas said, jumping to reposition his place on the couch to look at Ferb. "What am I thinking of?"

Ferb put on a thinking face and smiled. "You think of the most random things..."

He just chuckled at him and took a guess. "... _Bowling shoes?"_

Phineas let out a hysterical laugh and bent over. "Awesome! Okay now you do one."

Ferb was about to open his mouth when their mom called out from the other room, "Boys! I'm making some sandwiches to put in the fridge for tomorrow. Do you want relish on yours?"

Phineas turned to look at the open archway to the kitchen.

"Um, sure Mom! I like relish!" he replied after a moment of debating.

"What about Ferb? Does he want any?"

"I dunno. Hey Ferb! Do you want-?" Phineas started to ask, but stopped after he had turned around to face him. Ferb had his head laid back on the couch and his eyes gently closed. He breathed lightly with his mouth slightly agape as he dozed, fast asleep.

"Why're you sleeping, Ferb?" Phineas asked him as he poked his shoulder. "It's like 9 o'clock!"

After a second, firmer poke, Ferb let out a snort and a jump as he sat up to look at Phineas.

"Huh, wha...?" were his first words.

Phineas tipped his head questioningly. "You're tired?"

"No, I'm not tired," Ferb replied as he resumed his sitting position.

"But you just crashed like two seconds ago," Phineas pointed out.

"No, really, I'm not tired at all," Ferb argued with an honest and convincing tone. "I hadn't even realized I had fallen asleep until you woke me up."

"Weird," Phineas said. He then peered over to the glass door that led to the backyard. "Before it gets too late, though, we should go clean up outside. Today's project was pretty big."

Phineas hopped up off of the couch and almost ran towards the door, but it seemed that neither of them had taken into account their newfound shared limb. Ferb was launched off his seat after him and tumbled onto the carpet. Phineas was also pulled backwards in his sprint and landed in a heap on top of Ferb.

"Oops, sorry," Phineas apologized over Ferb's head. Ferb tipped his face off the floor and rolled off his chest and onto his back. Standing up, Phineas regained his footing and turned to help Ferb. Phineas found it easiest just to use their arm to pull him up.

"I'm not going to deny it. That was rather surprising and interesting," Ferb commented once he was back in balance.

Phineas smiled. "Alright, now that we're off of the carpet, let's keep heading outside."

They went over to the sliding glass door and moved out to the yard. Then they both stopped and looked at the empty grass that was beginning to become enshrouded in night darkness.

"Uhh, Ferb, where'd it go?"

"It was right here an hour ago, wasn't it?" Ferb asked, leading the way to stand near the indentations in the grass. Both looked around and down at the ground, searching for a nut or bolt that would give them a clue.

"…oh well," Phineas conceded. "Now we don't have to clean it up. Guess we're going to bed early tonight?"

Ferb nodded in defeat as he stood up from examining the ground. "I suppose I am a _little_ bit tired."

Phineas nodded and they turned and stumbled into the house through the sliding door, making their way up the wooden steps towards their room.

Reaching it, they entered the door. However, something made them both stop for a moment as soon as they arrived.

They turned and looked at Phineas' bed. They turned 90 degrees and looked at Ferb's bed, which was sitting on the other side of the room.

"Okay, so two questions," Ferb started.

"How are we going to get into our beds?" Phineas finished. He didn't waste a moment of thought before he began to drag Ferb, who tripped over his feet as he tried to keep up, over to his side of the room. Phineas looked the bed up and down.

"You can sleep in mine, if you want," Phineas suggested.

But Ferb was also eyeing it analytically. "…I don't think we'll both fit," he doubted. "Maybe it would have worked when we were ten, but with two teens, one of us is bound to fall out in the middle of the night."

With a rub of his chin, Ferb reached down with both hands to start grabbing up the bed sheets. Phineas stumbled over so that he could offer his other hand to aid Ferb in whatever it was he was trying to do.

"Oh, I get it!" Phineas announced once Ferb had an armful of sheets. "We'll take both our covers off the beds and sleep on the floor! Good idea!"

"How did you know exactly what I was-? Oh yeah, never mind," Ferb realized, before coming over to tear the covers off of his own bed.

"Yeah, with two sets it should be nice and comfy," Phineas agreed. He then bent down to help Ferb straighten the space on the floor.

"Okay," Phineas said, turning to Ferb once their task was done. "So what was your second question?"

"Oh yeah," was Ferb's reply. He reached over to grab his folded pajamas from nearby. Then, he pulled their arm out in front of them and drew attention to their elbows. "...how are we going get our shirts off?"

Phineas stayed looking at Ferb for a second, before turning down to their arm. He took his left hand and grabbed his T-shirt sleeve, moving it down off his shoulder to reach where their elbows met, imagining different ways.

Returning it, Phineas concluded, "Okay, so there's two choices. Go and get scissors, or sleep in our shirts."

"I don't think Mom would appreciate the former," Ferb pointed out.

"...Right," Phineas said, sitting down to settle under the sheets. "So I guess we're sleeping in our shirts. Let's try this out."

* * *

When Ferb awoke, he discovered that at some point during the night they had both piled on top of each other. It took Ferb a moment to figure out which arms were his, and whether or not they were underneath Phineas.

By the time Ferb had sufficiently gathered himself, Phineas had awoken as well. Together, they pushed the covers off of themselves and stood up.

They had their breakfast rather quickly, and scooched their chairs close enough together so that no one would notice anything amiss. They never put on their backpacks, but instead just carried them in each hand as they headed out the door.

"Have fun at school, boys!" their mom called out behind them.

"...We will!" they returned in unison.

Coming out to the front driveway, Ferb pulled the car keys out of his pocket and came around to the car's driver's side door. He opened it and slipped into the seat, starting to buckle the belt.

"Wait, wait, wait. Hold up," Phineas stopped. "This isn't going to work, I'm still outside the car!"

Ferb tipped his head out and looked up at his brother, who was standing between the open driver's door and Ferb's seat.

"Hmm, yeah. Uhh, you try getting in the seat behind me?" Ferb suggested as he looked over his shoulder.

Phineas nodded and reached around to open the back door. He ended up coming in backwards, and had his back to Ferb's seat, one knee bent sideways, and one foot still in the doorway when he couldn't go any farther.

Ferb still had his arm stuck around the side between the open passenger's door and the frame of the car, when Phineas did a little shuffle to address him. "Well, this isn't going to work either. Our arm is stuck outside now!"

"Okay, umm," Ferb thought as he reached down to unbuckle his seatbelt. "I've an idea, let's go in from the other side?"

Squeezing out of both doors, Phineas and Ferb made their way around to the passenger's side. Ferb opened the door and motioned for Phineas to go ahead of him. Ducking down, Phineas proceeded to climb over the passenger's seat first, then the central cup holders, to finally trip his way into the back seat. During this time, Ferb was dragged behind him and ended up with his knees planted on the passenger's seat. He was facing backwards with his hands on the passenger's headrest. Phineas was sort of half-fallen down in the back seat, hanging from Ferb's arm.

Ferb reached back as far as he could to close the passenger's door behind him. He returned to facing the back seat and said with an exhausted sigh, "Okay. So now we're at least _in_ the car."

"I think we're gonna be late for school," Phineas commented as he tried to right himself.

"I'm not going to argue," Ferb partially agreed. "But this might work if we can do it right."

Lifting up one knee, Ferb was able to slide it onto the driver's seat. Then he tried to pull the other one over with an awkward twist, landing hard behind the wheel. Meanwhile, Phineas was forced to stand up in the back, leaning over the armrest so that Ferb could maneuver their arm around his face.

Eventually, they found themselves situated so that Ferb was in the driver's seat, and Phineas was standing in the back, half-twisted with his face almost touching the window so that Ferb could use Phineas' right arm in the front.

"Well, now I can't sit down," Phineas made note. Ferb was also attempting to figure out his accommodations, eyeing the steering wheel while he tried to work his hands around it.

"And I can't reach the wheel with my left hand," he concluded as he vainly tried to shuffle his elbow away from its place on the seat's head rest. Phineas couldn't help but pull it further in his direction.

"Try moving the seat closer," was his suggestion.

But Ferb shook his head. "Then my knees will hit the wheel."

"Ferb! You're too tall!"

"You know, considering all we're trying to do is _get into a car,_ this is a lot harder than it looks," Ferb said as he tried once more to find a position in which he could grab the wheel.

Phineas almost fell to the floor again. "Yeah, this would be a whole lot easier if I were attached to your right arm, instead of your left."

"Hey, Phineas?" Ferb asked with the tone of an idea. Phineas tried his hardest to sit his head back so that they could make eye contact at least slightly. Ferb suggested, "Why don't _you_ drive?"

"What! Ferb, I can't drive!" Phineas objected surprisingly.

"Sure you can, you're just as good a driver as I am," Ferb tried to convince him.

"But Ferb, all I have is my learner's permit."

Ferb tried to move his shoulder as he reasoned with him. "I'll be in the passenger's side the whole way."

Phineas shook his head stubbornly. "You have to be twenty-one for that to count, and you're only sixteen!"

"By the time we get to school, we would have already missed half the first class, anyway," Ferb pointed out. "You have plenty of time, so you won't have to rush."

Phineas stayed quiet as he rolled it over in debate.

"Besides," Ferb said with honesty, yet some sarcasm. "I have my full license, and you'll be _driving_ with one of my _arms_ the entire time. That has to count for something, right?"

Phineas slowly changed his shaking head into a hesitant nod. "I guess so… but only to school."

Ferb began to pull their arm around his head as he attempted to move himself to the passenger's seat. "Good. I think we might be able to make it there in time to get to our lockers before second class."

Successfully in his seat, Ferb turned to offer his left hand as support for Phineas, who was trying to clamber over the cup holders. Phineas took it gratefully, but after a second he stopped in surprise when he realized that it was his own right hand that he was grabbing.

He froze in mid-climb and followed his arm down to Ferb's elbow, which was strained slightly with Phineas' weight, then over to his own on the same arm. He then smiled and laughed. "Haha, this is really funny. I'm helping myself over the arm rest."

Ferb laughed with a smile as well. "Never thought I'd see this."

After some awkward maneuvering, Phineas finally arrived in the driver's seat. They both relaxed as Ferb did nothing more than lean over slightly so that Phineas could comfortably sit. Both were able to buckle in correctly as Ferb handed the car keys to Phineas.

"Much better," Ferb remarked as Phineas skillfully started the car.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Making their way through the quiet hallways, Phineas and Ferb soon found their lockers in the deserted school corridors. All students were currently still in their respective first classes of the day, and Phineas and Ferb were late enough that they decided that it was not worth it to sneak in. Soon, the bell would ring and the halls would be filled again.

Somehow they managed to get all of their books out of their bags using only three arms. Just as they placed the last of their textbooks away, they spotted their friends Isabella, Baljeet, and Buford coming around the corner along with a mass of fellow classmates. They both quickly shrunk close to each other and hid their arm behind Ferb's back.

"Oh, hi guys!" Isabella greeted. "We didn't see you this morning."

"Just some… car trouble," Phineas explained shiftily.

"More like 'hooky trouble,'" Buford offered with accusation.

"Hey! We weren't playing hooky!" Phineas defended, before reaching up to scratch his ear. "It was kind of an accident…."

Isabella moved up and down, trying to see behind them. "What've you got there?" she asked with interest.

"Huh? We don't have anything."

"Right there," Isabella said as she spun around them. "In your fist. Are you trying to hide something?"

"We don't have anything in our fist!" Phineas resisted as both he and Ferb spun to match her, keeping Isabella in front of them.

Baljeet and Buford both stood back a bit, watching them as almost a dance. Baljeet scratched his head as he pondered their words.

"That was an odd way of phrasing it," he pointed out. "The way you said it made it sound like you only had one-"

But no one was paying attention to Baljeet's logic. Isabella had reached forward and snatched Phineas' right wrist from behind him, saying, "I want to know what you have in there, Phineas Flynn!"

She held up his hand as he uncurled his fingers before her. Isabella looked at the empty palm with disappointed confusion.

"Huh," she said as she inspected it. "I guess you really don't have anything in your-AAHH!"

Isabella threw their arm away in terror once she had followed it up to the elbows. She just kept looking back and forth between the two of them. "What did you guys _do_ to each other?"

Buford and Baljeet both ran closer once they had noticed what Isabella had seen.

"That is _reeeaalllyy_ weird…" Buford commented.

Isabella covered her hands over her eyes. "I'm getting images of the last time this happened…."

Ferb shrugged and Phineas reassured her, "Don't worry, Isabella. It's not as bad as the last time. And remember? That wore off in a couple of hours anyway."

"But is this…" Isabella peeked out from between her fingers. "…Is this permanent?"

"Well… _at the moment,_" Phineas said awkwardly. "But we haven't really started looking for a solution yet. We figured we'd come to school and see what'd happen."

"I'll tell you what'll happen," Baljeet said as he took the arm and looked all up and down it. "People will ship you off to the circus. Or cart you off to the hospital."

Phineas took his left hand and lifted his right one out of Baljeet's grasp. "We're _not_ going to the hospital. Because there's nothing wrong with us."

"Oh, Phineas," Baljeet sighed. "What exactly is your definition of 'wrong'?"

"Although, now that you mention it," Phineas said, unfazed, with a hand on his chin as he pondered in thought. "Something pretty strange happened last night, didn't it, Ferb?"

Ferb looked over to him. "Which is that?"

"Well, last night Mom wanted to make us sandwiches so that we could eat them today. She asked from the kitchen what we wanted on them," Phineas explained, while Ferb nodded beside him.

"She asked if we wanted relish on them, and then Ferb-" Phineas could not finish his sentence when he felt a strong tug on his arm as Ferb began to teeter towards the floor. Reacting quickly, Phineas tried to grab him-which was really difficult using only one hand and the other attached to him.

"Woah, Ferb!" Phineas called, eventually stopping him inches from the floor by grabbing onto the front of his shirt. They had done a little spin in Phineas' attempts to catch him, and now Ferb almost lay on the tile floor beside Phineas' feet. Ferb had his eyes shut and was breathing as if he was on the brink of snoring.

Their three friends gathered overtop of them as Phineas knelt down so that he could give Ferb a light shove on the shoulder. Ferb sniffled and began to blink his eyes open as he stood up.

_That was rather surprising…_ he thought as he rubbed his head.

_I'll say!_ Phineas commented back to him. _What came over you?_

_I don't know. I mean, I'm not tired at all, same as last time. But it was like I just couldn't stay awake anymore,_ was Ferb's explanation.

Phineas nodded slowly as he continued to look back at Ferb._ It's weird that it happened when we were talking about the same thing as last night, though._

_You think it has something to do with it?_

_Maybe,_ Phineas returned._ All we were talking about were sandwiches, and condiments, and relish. You know, whenever I think of relish it always makes me think of-_

"Guys!" Isabella said as she flung her hand between Phineas and Ferb's gazes. "Are you okay?"

She stepped back with a look of concern. "You're just _staring_ at each other."

"Oh whoops! Sorry," Phineas apologized. "We were just having a conversation in our brains."

When Isabella looked at Ferb, as if seeking a better explanation, he just gave a supportive smile, accompanied by a thumb's up.

The three of them just kept looking on with perplexed interest. "In your… brains?"

"Oh yeah, we forgot to tell you. We can read our minds now."

Isabella just stuck her head in her hand. "As long as we've known you two, we probably should be used to this."

She bent down into her backpack and pulled out one of her long, black tube gloves. "Well, here," she said and she pulled their arm towards her and began to fit the sock over it. "If you really don't want to go to the hospital, wear this all day. Maybe no one will notice."

"Cool, thanks, Isabella!" Phineas replied as he and Ferb both straightened it comfortably.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Isabella's momentary fix was enough to keep interested eyes off of them for the first few classes. One of their teachers once asked them why they had moved their chairs so close together, but he had bought their story about how it helped them think better.

By the time lunch period rolled around, they had taken off the thick sock so they could eat their food comfortably. After all, in the busy and hectic lunch room people were more likely to pass over stranger things.

_Hey, Ferb, can I use it to cut my chicken?_

_Sure, go ahead._

Phineas pulled their arm over from Ferb's plate, and used the knife that it already held to accompany his fork in separating the food. Ferb then took it back to take a straggling pea off his plate.

Using his fork freely in his left hand, Phineas paid no attention to what Ferb was doing with his right. That is, at least until he needed it again, when Ferb would gladly hand it over without a thought. Ferb just kept chomping away at whatever piece of food was on his fork, that he held in his own right hand, while Phineas cut his food contentedly beside him.

"Hey… aren't you guys going to eat anything?" Phineas asked when he noticed that none of their friends had even touched their own lunch.

The obvious reason, which went unnoticed by Phineas, was that all three of them were captivatingly staring at the accommodative manner in which Phineas and Ferb were casually finishing their meals.

"Can you… like, eat slower?" Buford pushed. "Or at least try to make it _look_ like that's hard to do?"

"Yeah," Baljeet finished. "You guys are, like, totally in sync. It's kinda freaking us out."

"Well, they _are_ Phineas and Ferb," Isabella pointed out while she lifted up her hamburger. "I'm not surprised they find… _that_… easy."

Everyone partially nodded in agreement while Isabella digressed. "You know, school's hamburgers are really bland. I wish they would add more stuff, like tomatoes, or-"

"Eep! Don't talk about pickles!" Phineas exclaimed, reaching over to snatch Ferb's plate out from under him seconds before his forehead hit the table with a thud. Grabbing the back of his collar, Phineas pulled Ferb's face limply off the surface so he could awkwardly prop him upright in his chair.

Isabella, Baljeet, and Buford had returned to their stunned expressions as Phineas gave Ferb a few hard pokes in the shoulder. "For some reason, Ferb suddenly and unavoidably falls asleep whenever I think about pickles," Phineas explained haphazardly.

Buford shook his head to rid himself of his astonishment. "…Can this day get any weirder?"

Ferb groaned and looked up at Phineas. When he realized that his plate was no longer in front of him, revelation came over his face and he smirked, "Again…?"

"Yeah…" Phineas said as he looked all around Ferb, as if he could solve their questions by mere observation. "…I guess we're connected by more than just our arm."

"Well…" Baljeet put out with a tone of thorough contemplation. "Didn't you say that the machine was supposed to make remote controls?"

"Hey, yeah." Phineas turned to Ferb, and pointed at him. "Weren't you on the 'objects' platform, and I was on the 'remote' platform?"

Ferb reached up and scratched the back of his head. "Phin… where are we going with this?"

Phineas turned to Baljeet, as if he could help him think. "Do you think… that I'M a remote for Ferb?"

Closing his eyes, Phineas pretended to hold up an invisible control, and directed it at Ferb. He moved his thumb as if he was pressing a button, and tried out, "Umm… Pause!"

Ferb looked uneasily to the left, then to the right. "…I'm not paused."

After opening his eyes, Phineas looked at his nonexistent control as if it were broken. "I guess that somehow the controls were only linked to my thoughts. And apparently only specific ones."

"So, what… you're putting Ferb into 'standby mode' or whatever, by thinking about-?" Buford asked, but was quickly shushed by Isabella.

"Don't say it!" she and Phineas both stopped in unison.

After settling down for a second, and checking on Ferb, Phineas mentioned, "Well, it's not TOO big of a deal. I mean, it's specific enough that we can avoid it by just not thinking about those."

Ferb nodded as he pulled back his plate from in front of Phineas.

* * *

After making it through the rest of the day's classes, Phineas and Ferb came out to the school parking lot. Phineas commented that it was a good thing it was Friday.

They soon found their car, but when they reached it neither of them made a jump for the driver's seat.

"So, Phineas..." Ferb started. "...With my _sudden onset narcolepsy,_ I probably shouldn't be driving."

"...But I don't like driving with only my permit, Ferb," Phineas objected.

Ferb placed his hand on the car to lean slightly on it. "Well, you've been meaning to get your license anyway. Why don't you call them and see if there's a slot open for your test?"

"Yeah..." Phineas agreed. "It'd make me feel better if I was legal."

Once he had quickly looked up the number on his phone, Phineas commented, "Here, I'll do it right here. We have time." He finished dialing it in and held it up to his ear.

"Yes, my name is Phineas Flynn and I was wondering if I could set up an appointment to take my driver's exam?" he spoke, giving a silent smile and a nod to Ferb.

A look of guilt crossed over his face as he listened to the other end of the line. "Umm... yeah, sooner rather than later would be best..."

He stood up straighter when he received the reply. "Oh, yeah! That would actually be perfect! See you then," he said as he removed the phone from his ear and closed it with a snap.

Ferb gave him a prompting look, so Phineas relayed, "They had a cancellation, so there's a spot open in about an hour!"

"Oh, good!" he replied, but after a second, neither of them made another movement, and just kept standing next to the car.

"...Are you going to drive?" Ferb asked tentatively.

"Ferb! I am _not_ going to drive myself to my own driver's test!" he exclaimed in response. "There has GOT to be something illegal about that."

Ferb just kept his right hand leaning on the top of the car. He looked down at their arm by his side. He looked over to the driver's seat. Then he looked back to Phineas.

"I'll have to drive with one hand," Ferb reminded him.

"You're a good driver."

"I won't be able to use the blinker."

Phineas kept his encouraging smiling. "It's a pretty straight drive, you won't need it that much."

Ferb just sighed as he started to lead the way to the passenger's side of the car. "Okaaaay, fine."

"Yay! Thanks!" Phineas said as he followed him around, and stumbled into the back.

Though Phineas was quite uncomfortable squished behind Ferb's seat, they were able to make it to the DMV on time. They hoped no one spotted them as they hobbled out of one side of the car.

"Okay," Ferb said in finale as the both stood up. "...And did you tell them that I'm coming, too?"

"Well, I figured since it's a test they probably wouldn't let anyone else in the car," Phineas rambled. "I thought you could like, sit in the lobby and I dunno, read a magazine or something..."

But halfway through Phineas' sentence, Ferb held up their arm in front of him and gave him a skeptical glare.

"I think you're forgetting something, Phin," he mentioned pointedly. "If you're in the car, then I'm in the car, too."

Phineas shoved his palm onto his forehead. "Doh! I don't know why that slipped my mind!"

Then Phineas began to frantically look all around, though neither he nor Ferb knew exactly what it was he was looking for. "Uhhh, what do we tell them?"

Ferb wracked his brain. "Let's just tell them we're twins."

Phineas ceased his searching, to look at Ferb. "You think they'll buy that?"

"Well, they would probably buy anything we tell them, considering we obviously _exist. _ But I think we should go with the most believable explanation."

"Yeah. Okay. Umm," Phineas finished. "Let's go walk inside."

When they entered through the door, they spotted the instructor sitting at the desk. The rest of the room was empty, as it seemed to be a slow day. Although, there was what looked to be a free salad bar in the corner that had been ravenously scavenged.

When the driving teacher saw them, she stood up from her seat and came over to make a greeting. "Hi, you must be...?"

Her sentence was interrupted when her eyes fell onto their abnormality, which the two of them were trying their best not to hide. "...Phineas Flynn?"

"Yep," Phineas replied, pointing at Ferb. "And this is my brother, Ferb."

Ferb waved.

"Your... brother?" she repeated.

Phineas took a moment before he responded uneasily. "...Yep..."

"I thought Siamese Twins had to be identical?"

_They kind of do..._

_Shh! She doesn't have to know that!_

"They don't HAVE to be..." Ferb answered. "It's just, um, more likely that they are."

"Hey wait," was the instructor's reply. "If you were born like that, then why do you have a British accent, and you don't?"

Ferb and Phineas both turned their eyes to look at each other, not moving their heads away from facing the instructor.

Ferb took a gulp. _Shoot, I hadn't thought of that..._

_You know, she has a point..._

_I know, I'm thinking._

_You know, you think in a British accent, too. It's funny. _

It must have looked rather awkward for both of them to suddenly stop talking and continuously shift their eyes toward each other. The instructor just kept waiting for a response.

_What do we tell her? What do we tell her?_ Phineas thought, panicking.

_You're good at telling stories, make something up_.

"Well, you see, Ferb's a better listener..." Phineas began.

"So I'm more likely to pick up an accent...?"

When Ferb had finished, both of them gave a simultaneous bright and guilty smile.

"...That makes about as much sense as anything else," she admitted after a moment. "The car's parked out back. You can come along as long as you don't distract him."

* * *

"Ferb! She told you not to distract me!" Phineas called as he turned the wheel.

"I'm not distracting you, I'm just sitting here," Ferb answered from his place situated between the two seats.

The instructor pointed out the front window. "Okay, I want you to make a U-turn at this light up ahead."

Phineas pulled into the correct lane and stopped at the red light.

_He's forgetting his turn signal..._

"Ferb!"

"What?"

Phineas reached over to turn on his blinker, but not before tossing a glare to Ferb in the rear view mirror. Ferb shrugged at him with confusion.

After he had made the turn, the instructor told Phineas to pull into a residential area, and gave him some commands for navigating it. Soon they came to a busy central street, and Phineas was told to make a right turn onto it. Another car came parked in the oncoming street, and turned on its left turn signal.

"Okay, Phineas. Who has the right-of-way here?" the instructor quizzed.

_Cars making right turns always have the right-of-way._

"Ferb!" Phineas exclaimed, turning around to face him. "Stop helping me telepathically, this is a test!"

"Wait. You're doing what, now?"

Ferb looked at Phineas, slightly surprised. "I can't stop myself from _thinking."_

Turning back to the confused instructor, Phineas requested, "Take off a few points, I was going to forget my blinker back there."

"I'm sorry, Phineas. I wasn't doing it on purpose," Ferb apologized. But the instructor still had not written anything down and just kept looking at them.

"Okay, explain it to me again?" she requested with bewilderment.

"Ferb's accidentally thinking help to me. But I'm trying my best to ignore him."

"Don't penalize him for it, though. It was my fault," Ferb added.

The instructor did not move. "I'll think about points later. I'm still hung up on how you did that."

"Oh, yeah," Phineas confirmed. "I can make him fall asleep, too."

"...Really?" she replied with shock.

"Yeah, it's easy. All I have to do is think about..."

Ferb tried to interrupt him. "Phin, please don't put me to-"

Ferb never finished his sentence, as he dropped in mid-word to the floor. Phineas had to be sure to keep his foot firmly on the brake as he was pulled slightly backwards.

"...Oops," Phineas muttered as he peered down at the crashed Ferb, who was slumped over the carpeted footrests. He looked back up at the instructor with responsible fault. "...I didn't mean to do that."

Reaching back, Phineas pulled Ferb up closer so that Phineas could still use their arm to grab the wheel. He then realized that he had been stopped at the quiet intersection with his blinker flashing the entire time.

"...Is the test almost over?" Phineas asked timidly, as if the question was forbidden.

"Um, yeah. A few more blocks," she replied, finally taking the moment to write something down in her clipboard, once she had taken her eyes off of Ferb. He just slept soundly with his other arm limply draped beside him while Phineas drove them all back to the parking lot.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Phineas pulled the car into the DMV lot and parked it. When he had turned it off, he asked the instructor, "Can I re-take it? I'll do better next time, I promise."

She just folded her paper off of her clipboard and replied, "Oh, there's no need for that. You passed."

Stopping his bargaining, Phineas grew quiet. "I did...?"

"Yep. I had to take off a few points when you went through a yellow light, and a few when you... uh, forgot your blinker. But overall you did really well."

"Really? Cool!" Phineas then turned around to give Ferb a hard shove on the shoulder. "Hey Ferb, you can wake up now! I passed!"

Ferb didn't move from his place laying over the armrest.

"I'll go inside and get your paperwork ready," the instructor informed as she got out of the car.

Phineas hopped over the central armrest into the back seat behind Ferb. "Feeerrrbbb, it's time to wake up..." he said as he gave him a few more pokes. No response.

_______FerbFERBferbFERBferbFERBferb_...

Phineas opened one of the back doors and pushed it wider with his foot.

_____FeRbFeRbFeRbFeRbFeRbFeRb!_!

He pulled one arm underneath Ferb's, and with their shared one he half pushed, half pulled him out of the car. Ferb's feet dragged along the concrete and his head rested along Phineas' forearm until Phineas got him through the glass door of the DMV.

"He's totally out like a light," Phineas remarked as he set him on a chair.

The instructor set the finished papers down and came over. "Does this... normally happen?"

"No, normally I can wake him up just by shoving him, like this." Phineas pushed Ferb hard on the shoulder again. His head just stayed resting on the back of the chair.

"Hang on..." Phineas thought out loud, leaning over to look at the nearby salad bar.

Stretching his hand, Phineas lifted a light green jalapeño off the top of a pile of lettuce. He gave a devious smirk as he stared at it.

"This is either going to be totally freaky or absolutely hilarious," he commented halfway to himself. Phineas then opened up his mouth and chomped down hard on it.

Immediately Phineas dropped the green stem to the floor as his eyes filled with water. He stuck out his tongue as he breathed to get air over it.

Ferb shot upright and began to fan his mouth, with his tongue hanging out like Phineas'.

"Thath not a vely nithe way thoo wathe thomeone up, Phineath!" he scolded as his eyes started to water.

Phineas' tears were hardly distinguishable from his tears of laughter. He bent onto the floor, as he could not contain his giggles. Ferb closed his mouth and puckered a bit.

"Now my tongue hurts."

Phineas stood back up and sat in the chair beside Ferb. "Hahaha, sorry. Mine too."

The instructor had withdrawn back behind the desk, and now just peered back at them from the other side. She pushed the paperwork overtop the counter. "Okay... You can sign this now..."

"Oh yeah! Ferb, I passed!" Phineas said excitedly. Ferb didn't bother to talk as he breathed deeply, but offered his hand to Phineas for a high-five.

* * *

"What do you mean you never put it in my mouth?" Ferb asked Phineas as they both sat on the living room window seat later that night.

"No really, there was just one jalapeño and it was in _my_ mouth," Phineas replied.

"But I felt it in my mouth, too. Didn't you at least squeeze a drop?"

Phineas put his hand over his mouth to suppress a giggle. "Nope. Weird, huh?"

"Why did you do that, anyway?" Ferb asked as he resisted rubbing his jaw.

"Because you were _totally_ out cold."

Ferb was about to continue, when they both heard a shuffling and a door opening.

"Candace is coming!" Phineas panicked. "We're sitting right next to the window with the reflection and everything, she's gonna see us!"

"Uhh, how do we hide it?" Ferb said as he looked back and forth all along the windowsill.

"Umm, quick!" Phineas suggested as he pulled the curtain open. "You hide in here!"

Ferb leapt behind the curtain and hid all of himself except for his arm, which he left out for Phineas. The curtain stopped waving and Phineas adjusted it at his elbow, careful not to move.

It was then that Candace came strolling in through the open doorway. She came right up to the window and stopped in front of Phineas.

"So," she started purposefully. "I hear you _finally_ got your full license. Bout time."

"...You did?" Phineas answered nervously. "...Who told you that?"

"Oh, Mom and Dad said they saw you driving up after school this afternoon," she replied as if it was common knowledge.

"They _saw_ us?" Phineas inquired further, biting his lower lip. He felt Ferb hold his breath for a second.

"Well, they didn't say anything in particular about Ferb. They just said that they saw YOU behind the wheel."

Both he and Ferb released their tension when Candace said this. She then stepped a little closer.

"Where _is_ Ferb, anyway?" she asked, investigating in a manner almost as if she was sniffing them out. "It's not too often I don't see him sitting right next to you."

"Umm... He's probably upstairs somewhere..." Phineas said with a scratch behind the ear.

"Hey wait a second," Candace demanded as she reached for Phineas' wrist. She dragged it up to the light. "...Why do you have two thumbs...?"

Phineas just gave her a smile. "Everybody has two thumbs, Candace."

"Okay. Rephrased:" she repeated. "Why do you have two thumbs... _on the same hand?"_

Phineas tried to resist peering back into the curtain. _She's on to us, Ferb. What do we do?_

_I can't think of anything..._

Candace stood back and crossed her arms. She began to tap her foot.

_Maybe we should tell her._

_What? Ferb, we can't tell her, what would she do?_

Candace puckered her lip. "I'm waiting."

Lowering his nose down, Phineas looked up at her like a shameful puppy. He slowly pointed at the thumb on the far side of his hand. "...that one's Ferb's..."

Candace uncrossed her arms and looked down on him in surprise. "How in the WORLD did you get Ferb's thumb on the side of your hand?"

Jumping back, she threw her hands to her mouth in a gasp. "Oh my GOSH. You blew him up into tiny little pieces, didn't you?"

"No! No, Ferb's fine," Phineas assured her. "...He's right here."

Pulling back the curtain, Phineas let Ferb crawl out. He did a little stumble and tripped halfway, ending up looking at Candace upside-down. When he was finally in a sitting position, both of them looked at her bashfully.

Watching their awkward movements, Candace let out a shrill shriek. "You two are all mutated! And fused together... like freaks!"

She pulled out her cellphone and ripped it open. "I'm calling Mom, AND 911!"

"No!" both of them begged in unison, reaching for her phone. "Please don't do that, Candace!"

She stopped and continued her scrutinizing stare, as if her compliance could be bought with answers.

"I mean, sure it was an accident," Phineas mentioned. "But we can't go to the hospital to fix it. We just can't."

"Think about it, Candace," Ferb spoke up. "There's three arms, and two of us. If we go under the knife, someone comes out missing one."

Phineas nodded. "And I don't want to lose mine any more than I want Ferb to lose his."

"And you think you can fix it?" she pointed out.

"Well I mean we haven't tried, but I'm sure if we put our minds to it-"

"Whatever," Candace interrupted. "Just keep that thing away from me. It's disgusting."

She turned and stomped out of the room. Phineas looked down at their arm, then back up to Ferb.

"I don't think it's disgusting, Ferb."

Ferb's returned smile was broken by a huge yawn. After Phineas had repeated it, both agreed it was about time for bed.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Phineas blinked lightly as he rubbed his eyes. He opened them gradually as they focused on the white plaster ceiling above him. Tipping his head further upwards on the pillow, he looked across the bed.

A few empty chairs sat on the far side, and over the thin white bed sheet sat a tan cord. It ran along the fabric up to a plastic device attached to his finger. The back side of his right hand had a square piece of gauze taped over it, and his right elbow was wrapped up snugly in a white bandage.

Phineas jumped up and searched frantically all around the room. "FERB!" he called out. "Ferb, where are you?"

"I'm right over here, Phin," Ferb's voice spoke quietly and gently.

Following it, Phineas looked over and saw that Ferb was sitting on the adjacent bed, with his bare feet dangling over the side. He had been placed in a thin short-sleeve hospital gown, and had his one hand resting on his lap. His other arm was bandaged short at the elbow.

"F-F-Ferb?" Phineas whispered. His eyes squinted as he looked like he was on the verge of bursting into tears. "They did it...! They snatched us out of our bed and they amputated you right off of me!"

"Don't be scared, Phineas," Ferb responded with reassurance. He looked up at the ceiling, and then over to the window. "...I think we're still attached to each other."

"What are you talking about!" Phineas exclaimed. He stretched his hand out over the empty space between them, trying to reach him. "You're way on the other side of the room!"

Ferb used his one hand to push himself off of the bed and hopped down, coming to stand beside Phineas. Phineas reached up to try to grab the air where Ferb's arm should have been.

Ferb placed his hand on the covers. "...I think we're dreaming."

Phineas stopped and looked up at him, and then around the length of the room. "Both of us...?"

"Why not? We can read our minds."

"But Ferb, it feels so real," Phineas argued.

Ferb gave him another smile. "Dreams always feel real when you're in them. When we wake up, we'll just remember it as a fog of memories."

Phineas returned to staring at Ferb's bandage. He reached up with his fingers curled, but did not touch it. "...Does it feel real for you?"

Ferb sighed and looked down at his feet. "...Yes."

Unable to keep his lip from quivering as he fixed his eyes on Ferb's half of an arm, Phineas whimpered, "Does it feel strange?"

"Yeah," Ferb breathed. "It feels really strange."

"And you're sure we're dreaming?"

Ferb did not reply at first. Instead he jumped onto Phineas' bed by his feet, and looked away. Then he answered, "...No, I'm not sure. But I'd like to hope we are."

He exhaled, and looked back to Phineas. "I mean, this is the one thing both of us were dreading the most when we went to sleep last night. Wouldn't it make sense that that's what we would dream about? Think, what's the last thing you remember?"

Phineas thought, and realized that Ferb had a point. "I remember falling asleep at home."

"If they snatched us out of our bed, I think we would have woken up. And Phineas," Ferb explained as he thought it out out loud. He pointed over to Phineas' arm.

"...It's both of ours. Why would they choose to save your right hand over my left?" Ferb shook his head when he saw Phineas start to answer. "Mom and Dad would have told them that you're left handed."

Phineas pulled the covers up to his chin, and then reached over to scratch the fabric covering of his elbow. "I don't like this, Ferb. I don't like this at all.

"...I want them to give it to you," Phineas said quietly. He pointed out at the door. "Go out there and tell them that I don't want it."

Looking out the doorway, Ferb replied, "There's no one else in the hospital, Phineas."

"...Really?" questioned Phineas. "How do you know?"

"I've been up for about an hour, while I was waiting for you to wake up," Ferb elaborated. "I went wandering around."

But Phineas frowned sadly at him. "Time doesn't pass like that in dreams. That's like in real life."

Ferb's single hand was lying on the side of his knee. He glanced down at it tiredly. "Maybe. But no one really knows what dreams are like."

"But if you've been up all this time, why didn't you wake me up, too?" Phineas asked curiously.

"Well, I figured you needed your rest," Ferb said almost guiltily. "You know. We just had surgery… In case this really isn't a dream."

"...It is though, right?"

"I don't know," was Ferb's quiet reply. Then he suggested consolingly, "Try to wake up?"

Phineas put on a confused face. "How do people wake up from dreams?"

"Just try to..."

But Ferb's voice began to slowly grow quiet and fuzzy.

"I can't hear you, Ferb," Phineas tried to call out through a shroud of blackness. He shook his head after the dark fog started to lift. He pushed his sheets off of himself.

The room was dark, and a little crack of light under the door was coming in from the hallway. In the pile of the covers bunched up on the floor, Phineas found Ferb sleeping soundly beside him. Quickly Phineas pulled up his arm and checked his elbow, where he saw Ferb's arm still attached. Phineas let out a releasing sigh.

"Okay, okay Ferb," Phineas said with exasperation as he pushed Ferb's shoulder. "You told me to wake up, so now you wake up."

But Ferb just rolled a bit in response to Phineas' pushing. Phineas scooted closer. "Come on, Ferb! Are you stuck in there?"

Ferb looked up from his spot sitting on the empty hospital bed. He slid off the edge, and touched his bare feet onto the cold tile. He came out to peer down the silent white corridor.

_I can hear you somewhere, Phineas. Where are you?_

"I'm not in there anymore, Ferb!" Phineas took the back of his own shoulder and used it to shove Ferb's. If they had been in a bed, Ferb would have fallen off the edge.

_Ferb!_

Phineas saw Ferb push himself up as he turned over to face him. Lying on his back, Ferb tipped his gaze down to their arm. A look of gratefulness spread over him.

Phineas pulled his hand around Ferb's upper arm and clutched him close, as if he might fall off at any moment. After a second or two, Phineas admitted, "...If there's only gonna be three between us, I'm okay with sharing."

Ferb placed his hands behind his head and looked upwards. "I'm not always right, but I'm sure glad I was this time."

"I like it when you're right," Phineas replied. He looked over at the clock. The bright digital display read 6am over the dark room.

He set his head back on the pillow. "Let's just lay here for an hour."

"Good idea," Ferb agreed.

* * *

The sun rolled in through the window as the clock switched to 7am. Phineas realized that Ferb had been right again, and now all he could remember of their dream were fuzzy pieces, as the waking world overtook it.

It changed gradually to 7:10, and Ferb mentioned that they probably should get up. Then they heard a thump of feet coming up the stairs.

"Phineas! Aren't you going to get dressed?" hollered their Mom as she approached the doorway.

_Mom doesn't wake us up on Saturdays,_ Phineas thought to Ferb.

"You're still asleep?" she started as she peered in. Then she looked down on them in surprise. "What are you two doing on the floor?"

Phineas and Ferb yanked the covers up to their noses. Not only did they try to hide their odd number of arms from her, but they also knew that she was one glance away from asking them why they weren't in their pajamas.

"See, last night we decided that we wanted to make a fort..." Phineas made up. "... So we tore our sheets off our beds and stuff..."

"A fort?" their Mom said with doubt. "You're sixteen years old!"

Ferb offered a smile. "You know us..."

She just grinned and shook her head. "Okay, I'll give you that. But Phineas, you'd better get up and dressed soon, because they'll expect you in the park in an hour."

With that, she left him to supposedly get ready.

Phineas slapped himself in the head and turned to Ferb. "Oh! I totally forgot about that charity picnic I volunteered to help with! I signed up for that ages ago!"

"Right!" Ferb answered. "But I didn't sign up."

"Yeah, why didn't you, again?"

"Well, remember I wanted to use the time to do more studying for our test on Monday?" Ferb reminded him. "But I know the material well enough already. Looks like I'm coming with you."

Sitting up a bit out of the covers, Phineas pointed to their arm. "But Ferb, there's no way we can hide it when both of us are standing there selling hot dogs to people."

With an uneasy glance up to Ferb, Phineas added, "I don't want our dream to come true."

Ferb laid his hand over their forearm. "Don't worry about it, Phin. I don't think complete strangers are going to suddenly take it upon themselves to leap onto us and drag us to the hospital. At most, we'll get stares and awkward comments."

"...Okay," Phineas answered as he started to push out of the makeshift bed.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Phineas and Ferb didn't bother to eat breakfast, as they figured that they could eat at the picnic. Doing a half-shuffle out the door, they were careful not to catch their Mom's attention as they waved goodbye to her. The door was already shut before she could ask where Ferb was going.

When they were comfortably situated in the car, Phineas started it and drove out onto the road.

"You really think this is going to go okay?" Phineas asked, refusing to take his eyes off the street.

"Sure it will. It's only for a few hours, anyway," Ferb answered.

Phineas shook his head. "But there will be hamburgers there. With ketchup and tomatoes-"

"Up-up-bup!" Ferb stopped him with a raised hand. "Just keep an open mind."

"Yeah okay, I'll try," Phineas promised.

After a few minutes of driving around town, Phineas mentioned, "Hey, Ferb? How do we get to the park, anyway?"

Ferb thought for a second. "Uh, I think it's in the middle of town."

"So I take this street here?"

"Probably," Ferb speculated. But when Phineas turned the corner they noticed the many prevalent orange signs lining the sides of the road.

"There's construction all along this one!" Phineas pointed out.

Ferb nodded in acknowledgment. "Go slowly, and watch out for scattered debris."

This was a difficult task, however, as most of the road was littered with dirt and bits of concrete.

"This doesn't look right," Phineas commented.

"Yeah, maybe we should find a place to turn around," Ferb replied. Then he pointed out the front window. "Watch out for that nasty block over there."

Phineas spotted the cinder block lying in the middle of the road. It was broken into pieces, and had a metal shaft sticking out of the top.

"Umm, I don't think I can avoid it," Phineas fretted. "I might be able to get it to slide under the car..."

But when it disappeared under the left bumper, they heard a loud banging sound.

"...there goes the tire," Ferb deduced.

Phineas hung his head onto his chest. "...Sorry. I thought I could make that."

But Ferb just started to unbuckle his seatbelt with a wave of his hand. "It's no trouble. That's why we have a spare."

Phineas, too, unbuckled his belt and followed Ferb out the passenger's side. They went around to the back of the car and Ferb unlatched the trunk.

"I'll get the jack, and you unscrew the bolts with the wrench," he said as he pulled out both the portable jack and the nut wrench, handing it to Phineas.

Phineas got down on his knees to pull off the hubcap, while Ferb lay down on his back to sneak under the car. Ferb was using both hands to align the jack while Phineas used his left hand to spin the wrench around each nut.

The concrete block was still lodged under the tire, with the rubber of the wheel draped around the metal pike. The tire had completely blown and as Phineas inspected it, he could see the broken hole in the rubber quite clearly.

_Hey Ferb, check this out. I can see all the insides of the rubber. _

Ferb stopped his fiddling with the jack for a moment, and lowered his hands to the asphalt. He lay there for a second before finally talking.

"Phineas, why am I here?"

Phineas got down lower so that he could look at Ferb. He asked further, "...Is that a philosophical question?"

"No," Ferb answered, peeking his head out from beneath the metal frame. "I mean, what am I doing under the car?"

"Well, umm, you were putting up the jack," Phineas pointed down to the half-raised device. "You know, to fix our flat."

Upon hearing Phineas say this, Ferb looked over from his place on the sidewalk to see the deflated front tire. He opened his eyes in surprise. "How did we get a flat?"

"...From that sharp pointy cinder block lodged in the front," Phineas said almost sarcastically. Ferb reached up his hand, and Phineas took it to help him up. Ferb then caught notice of the culprit to the blown tire: the grey stone block was almost hidden in the folds of the tire.

"Woah...!" was Ferb's reaction. "...Did I drive over that?"

Phineas scratched his head as he looked at his brother. "...No, you were the one who told me to watch out for it. I was driving, remember?"

Ferb just looked at Phineas, and shook his head. He slowly replied, "I don't remember that."

"Oh great," Phineas realized. "I erased your mind, or rewound it or something!"

"You did?"

"I must have!" Phineas glanced back to the blown tire, and then back to Ferb, who was still staring questioningly at him.

"It was the _rubber! _ How in the world did 'rewind' get linked to _rubber?"_

"Rewind?" Ferb asked. "Rewind what?"

"Your mind, I guess," Phineas suggested. Then he pointed back to the tire. "So you forgot we had a flat."

Ferb looked at where Phineas had pointed. He shuffled over slightly to glance over his shoulder. Then he said quietly, "...We have a flat?"

"YES," Phineas tried to stay calm. "So let's fix it so we can get to the park on time."

Growing quieter, Phineas whispered with a sense of distress, "You _do_ know where we're going, right?"

"Oh yeah, sure I do," Ferb confirmed with a rub behind his head. "To that charity picnic."

Phineas let loose a breath of air. "Okay, good."

He bent down again, with the intension of unscrewing the bolts further, but then he stood back up and looked at Ferb.

"Maybe you should change it by yourself," Phineas requested as he handed the wrench to him. "I don't want to think about this anymore."

* * *

When they pulled up to the parking lot of the town's central park, they were thankful that they had allowed enough extra time that they still had two minutes to spare. Ferb led Phineas out the passenger's side door, and Phineas brought him over to the tarp-covered check-in table.

"Hi, I'm Phineas," Phineas greeted the organizer as they approached. "I hope you don't mind I brought my brother?"

The organizer looked at them both, then at each of the booths set up along the park's central path. He turned back to them. "You didn't both sign up?"

"Kind of a... communication error," Ferb put out. "But I can't really NOT be here."

"I can... see that," was the man's slow reply.

"Don't worry, though. He's cool," Phineas assured with a hand on Ferb's shoulder. "He'll help us with the hot dogs."

"Uhh, okay." The man then looked around the park again. "But I'll have to find a way to put you both on the same booth."

He looked to a paper posted on the tarp wall of the tent. Tearing it down, he set it on the plastic folding table before him, and took out a pen. Then, he crossed out a name and wrote something beneath it.

"I'll move Suzanne to station 7, and you two can man number 5 by yourselves."

"Cool thanks!" Phineas exclaimed, before skipping merrily to their designated station. Ferb almost tripped as he stumbled after him.

The organizer just watched them go, and dipped his head with a shake, as if wondering what he had just permitted.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

"Can I have extra mustard on mine?"

Phineas turned back to Ferb and hollered, "One beef hot dog with extra mu-!"

He interrupted himself when he saw the finished hot dog brought up to his nose. It was resting in Ferb's outstretched hand.

"Oh, thanks," Phineas said as he took it and handed it to his customer.

"You know, you don't have to yell," Ferb made known, returning to the grill. Then he looked over his shoulder to Phineas and said teasingly, "You're having fun with this, aren't you?"

Phineas let out a huge grin and returned to serving his line, when the next customer approached.

"Just a plain one for me," the customer said as he pulled out some dollar bills.

Accepting them in his left hand, Phineas set the bills down and prepared to pull out the change. He turned sideways. "Ferb! I need a-!"

But Ferb was pointing to their hand. Phineas looked down and realized that it was already holding the customer's order.

"How are you so fast?" Phineas asked with impression, blindly handing the meal and change to the customer, while looking at Ferb.

"Well, I can't stand more than three feet from you," Ferb replied. "So I can hear all your customers. Plus there's the added bonus that I can hear your thoughts."

Phineas had stopped paying attention to his line to listen to Ferb. Fortunately, this did not bother the next customer, because he, too, had his attention on Ferb.

Ferb wiped some of the excess mustard off his latex glove and onto his shirt. "So by the time you've told me the order, I've heard it three times."

Then Ferb pulled up the squeeze bottle of ketchup. "But you just keep doing what you're doing, it works well. I need more ketchup, I have five more ready to take off the grill."

Phineas grabbed a new ketchup bottle from under the table, and tossed it over to Ferb, who caught it skillfully. Phineas added, _We're such a good team! _

Ferb happily nodded his agreement, and then turned the ketchup bottle upside down to line each hot dog with a thin strip, going line by line along each bun.

They continued this method for hours. Ferb made the hot dogs and dressed them with the customer's order, while Phineas took their payment and gave 1's and 5's as change out of his moneybox.

Once, however, a man approached Phineas, gave his order, reached into his wallet and pulled out a hundred dollar bill. He then asked Phineas if they accepted them.

"Um yeah, I think so," Phineas answered, looking down into his box and seeing at least a few twenties. "Sure, I have enough."

Taking the bill in his left hand, Phineas immediately noticed the absence of his right one when he looked down to count the change.

"Ferb?" Phineas called with request. He tried to subconsciously pull the arm away, but Ferb kept it. Phineas explained, "This guy paid with a hundred. I need our arm so I can count his change back."

"Sure, one sec," Ferb relayed, distracted. "I just need to open this bag of buns really fast."

The customer then grew a look of disgust on his face when he noticed this. After a second of waiting, it changed to impatience as he tapped his foot deliberately.

Apparently the organizer saw this, because soon he came over to the front of the line.

"Can I help you with something, sir?" he asked politely.

"Yes!" the customer demanded. "I've been waiting here while this... _thing_ fumbles around with my order. How can you let it work here?"

Phineas tipped his head down, clearly having his feelings hurt. Ferb put a gloved hand on his shoulder. _We're not a thing, Phineas. We're just you and me._

But the event organizer still had the problematic customer to deal with. "I'm sorry sir, but under the Disabled Citizens Act of Danville, I'm legally required to let them work."

"Hey, we're not disabled!" Phineas objected.

But, keeping his hand on Phineas' shoulder, Ferb mentioned gently, "He does have a point. Phineas, we DO have one less arm than everyone else. So I guess, technically, we _are_ disabled."

Hearing it from his brother, Phineas settled down a bit. "I suppose... _technically. _ But not really. You have two arms, and I have two arms, it doesn't matter that one of them just happens to be both of ours."

The customer standing before Phineas just grumbled with a disturbed glare. Seeing the situation solved for the moment, the event manager walked away to continue his rounds in the park.

Then, Phineas noticed that Ferb had finished with their arm, and had handed it back to him. But as he stuck his hands into the box to pull out some change, he realized that his hand was getting the money all dirty.

"Ferb, this hand is covered in condiments," Phineas said to him.

Ferb replied, "Yeah, that's why I was wearing a glove."

Phineas pulled it up and indeed noticed the latex covering over it. "Oh, cool," he said just as Ferb finished squeezing mustard onto the man's order. Ferb held the hot dog in one hand and pushed it towards the customer. Then, he turned to examine his other hand, along with Phineas.

"Ah, Ferb! You covered my thumb with the glove," Phineas took note.

Ferb was still holding the hot dog out to the customer. "Sorry, but I couldn't find any six-fingered ones."

"Oh, just _poke a hole through it!"_ the customer groaned in annoyance. "It's just _rubber!"_

Phineas and Ferb both stopped. After a second of stillness, Phineas quickly looked over to his brother and noticed that he was staring with interest at the hot dog in his hand. When the customer snatched it out, Ferb jumped in surprise. After hovering his gaze over his empty palm for a second, he looked up at the line of customers before the booth.

"Aahhh…" Phineas mouthed in unease, throwing the latex covering quickly off his hand so that he could gather the change and toss it to the impatient man, who walked away dissatisfied. Then, Phineas apologized to the next customer and turned to his brother.

"Ferb," Phineas addressed quite directly. Ferb took a second's pause, and then looked down at him. "We're at the park, helping with a charity picnic. Do you remember coming here?"

Ferb looked up at the bustling crowds surrounding the nearby booths. He looked down into their own tarp-covered station, and at the few plastic fold-up tables that held their supplies. Then, he peered down at his shirt and hands.

"…No…"

Phineas tried to stifle his frown, and sighed slowly, "Well, you obviously remember what happened to us two days ago. Else you would be totally freaking out right now."

"Yeah…" Ferb spoke haphazardly, as if he was speaking his mind as it came to him. "Yeah, I remember last night and this morning…"

Then, Ferb realized that Phineas had took his shoulders and turned him over to where a few almost-ready hot dogs were lined up on the board that was sitting on the table. Phineas grabbed another glove and slipped it over their hand, trying his best to ignore it. He placed a bottle into Ferb's hand.

"I'm sorry, Ferb. I'm really sorry… Right now, you're dressing those hot dogs, and I'm selling them," Phineas drew out, with a point towards the table.

"Oh!" Ferb exclaimed, pulling the yellow bottle up to his shirt to match it. "THAT would explain why I'm covered in mustard. I was wondering about that."

When Ferb started successfully squeezing the condiments onto the hot dogs, Phineas was able to turn back to his waiting line. After taking the order, Ferb handed it, finished, to the customer.

Though Ferb was going at a slower pace than he was before, they were still able to keep the line down to a reasonable length as Phineas threw orders at him. Several times, however, Phineas felt a wave of guilt rush over him, when he had to stand by and watch Ferb re-learn the methods that he had been doing so perfectly only an hour ago.

A man pushed politely to the front of the line and caught Phineas' attention. He was holding a half-eaten hamburger.

"I just came from the hamburger stand over there," he said as he pointed across the pathway. "Do you have any-?"

"NO!" Phineas shouted as he flung both hands and pressed them against his ears. A hot dog, which his right hand had been holding, was spun and landed the grass.

"Ketchup, mustard, lettuce, tomatoes!" Phineas repeated over and over again as he shut his eyes tightly and squeezed his palms over his ears. Their one gloved hand was smearing red and yellow all over the side of Phineas' face. "KETCHUP MUSTARD LETTUCE TOMATOES! NOTHING ELSE!"

The man backed away suddenly at Phineas' unforeseen reaction. But Phineas paid no attention to the people around him, as he focused on things other than the present conversation. After a second, he unclenched his eyes, dropped his hands, and looked over to Ferb.

"…Are you okay?" he asked cautiously.

Ferb was quick to respond with a nod. Then he added, "Close one, though…"

"I'll say," Phineas mentioned with a shake of his head.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

Phineas sat lightly on the white plastic table as Ferb swiped the side of it with a paper towel. The park sidewalks were considerably emptier than a few hours before, but several stragglers still wandered about the site. Ferb had organized all the empty ketchup and mustard containers along the side, as well as sorted the full ones.

"You're sure you're completely fine?" Phineas asked him, as Ferb tossed his towel into the nearby garbage bag.

"Not _completely._ I mean, there's still a huge gap between leaving the house this morning, and then suddenly realizing I'm behind a hot dog stand," Ferb replied as he grabbed another paper from the roll. But when he looked up to Phineas sitting on the table, he noticed the dismay that had crossed his brother's face.

"Don't worry about it, Phin," he reassured softly. "It's not like I've caught amnesia. I'm still myself, and I still have all my memories."

Phineas was watching Ferb scrub the surface of the table. "Not all of them…"

"Okay," Ferb agreed reluctantly. "So I lost a few hours. I'm sure nothing interesting happened."

When Ferb reached Phineas' spot on the table, he jumped down so that Ferb could continue swiping. "The ride over was pretty interesting," he commented.

Ferb stopped his washing and looked over into Phineas' eyes. "Phineas, I want you to know that it's not your fault. You're trying your hardest to avoid it, and I don't ask any more than that."

When Phineas gave a hint of a smile under his dipped nose, Ferb promised, "You can tell me all about how interesting our ride was, later. I'm curious to hear about it."

Taking a paper towel from the roll that was in their hand, Phineas straightened up and started to wipe down the next table. "Sure! That sounds like fun," he replied, cheerfulness returning to him.

A few minutes later, they had all three of their hands cleaned, and Phineas had two of them stuck in his moneybox as he counted the bills. Then, a man walked up to their booth and peered over it.

"Are you still open?" he asked in investigation.

Glancing to the table behind him, Phineas spotted a few of the still-fresh hot dogs that they had left over. "Sure. We can still sell you one."

Ferb reached back to grab one of them, then handed it to the man while he paid Phineas. From Ferb's stretched movement, the man caught sight of the oddity near their elbows.

"Ahhh, so _you're_ the twins I've been hearing so much about," he awed as he took a bite of his food. "You're the talk of the park."

"Hehe, we tend to be the center of attention all the time for some reason," Phineas remarked. "But mostly it's from the stuff we do."

"You know, I have a twin brother," the man started behind his full mouth. "Course, we're not attached, like you two. Don't know what I would do about that."

Phineas just nodded politely as he organized the new money in his box.

"He lives up in Montana, now. I see him on holidays," the man kept talking. "They have ice fishing up there, not a big fan of it, myself. You ever tried ice fishing?"

With a glance up from his stack, Phineas replied, "No, I've never tried ice fishing. But there's not too many places you can do it here, I always thought it would be fun."

Picking at his fingers with his mouth, the man finished the last bits of his bun and announced, "Well, I'm heading out. Thanks for staying open for me!"

"No problem!" Phineas said with a wave as the man left around the corner. Now all who was left in the immediate area were the event organizer and a couple of the other booth volunteers.

"He was nice," Phineas mentioned to Ferb as he bundled a handful of twenties. But Phineas stopped when he saw that Ferb was merely staring at him with open, widened eyes. Phineas could see several emotions behind his gaze, one of the most prominent of which, was fear.

"Ferb?" Phineas asked, with a hint concern. "Why do you look so confused?"

Ferb barely even moved slightly. He just kept staring down at Phineas.

"Oh no…" Phineas thought out. _"Ice fishing!_ Seriously! That is the most randomest cue ever!"

Phineas took one hand onto Ferb's upper arm, and rested theirs on his other shoulder. With a tone of panic, he hollered out to anyone who would listen, "S-s-someone watch my money! There's something wrong with my brother!"

Gently, Phineas led Ferb around the back to stand in the grass. Ferb tripped over his feet as he leaned on Phineas' guiding grip.

"Okay, Ferb… what did it do to you?" Phineas asked frantically as he checked all over him, looking for both anything and nothing. "Are you frozen? Can you not move?"

Lifting a finger, Phineas held it in front of Ferb's face. Slowly, he ran it back and forth horizontally. Ferb's eyes were fixed upon it and followed intently on its every motion. Then, Phineas drug it around his ear, and Ferb tilted his head so that he could keep it in view.

"You can move…" Phineas said deductively. But Ferb's mouth was lowered in a kind of neutral frown that made it appear that he might have followed any moving object.

"Are you muted? Ferb, can you not talk?" Phineas kept his hand on Ferb's arm as he fought to keep his own gaping frown unseen and squinting eyes hidden. "Ferb! If you can't talk, just mouth something!"

Ferb's surprised-eyed and fearful expression just stayed, unchanging, on his face. Phineas gave him a whimper.

"You don't even have to try talking, if you don't want to. But please, Ferb, just give me a nod, or anything." Phineas shut his eyes as he turned away for a second. Returning, he cried, "I know you can move! All I want is something that tells me you can hear me!"

Cupping a hand, Phineas pointed to his own ear. "Can you not hear me, Ferb?" He pointed at it again, and then shook his head in an up-and-down motion to pantomime what he was requesting.

Ferb stayed standing perfectly still, with a slight slouch in his shoulders. He had watched Phineas' actions, but made no sign of interpreting them.

_What are you doing in there, Ferb?_

There was no reply. But it was not as though Phineas had lost his connection to Ferb's mind; in fact, Phineas was able to read it just fine. When Phineas got in, however, he found it empty. Ferb was thinking about absolutely nothing.

"Feeerrbb," Phineas whined, pressing his cheek up against Ferb's chest. He tried to hug him, but only managed to do so with one hand. Ferb did not hug back, but left his hand resting at his side, as if he had forgotten what to do with it.

"I erased your brain… or deleted it… or hit your reset button." Phineas tried not to let his eyes water as he wiped them on Ferb's shirt.

"I'm sorry, Ferb," Phineas whispered almost inaudibly. "I never wanted anything like this to happen…."

Then Ferb stepped back for a second, and raised both hands up to his eyes. As he rubbed them, he let out nothing but a long, low moan.

"That… was…" he tried to turn his moan into a mumble, with another vigorous rub to his temples and forehead. He brushed back his hair. "…the…strangest…"

Phineas had already followed Ferb's step so that he could stand closer to him. Phineas kept looking up at him as Ferb wrinkled his nose in discomfort, so that Phineas could see his teeth.

"…two… minutes… ever."

"Are you okay, Ferb?" Phineas asked as soon as he was finished making out Ferb's groans. "Is your brain fixed?"

"I think… so," Ferb responded one word at a time. Then he took his hands off his face and blinked. "But it was really weird…"

"What happened to you?"

"I don't know…" Ferb tried to put it together. "Nothing that I heard or saw made any sense anymore. And you were speaking total gibberish."

Phineas refused to let him go. But this time, Ferb did rest his arm on Phineas' back.

"Let's go home," Phineas requested resolutely. "I don't want to reset your brain anymore."


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Upon entering the house, Phineas and Ferb both headed upstairs and sat down, exhausted, on Phineas' bed.

Ferb glanced down to his shirt. He noticed countless red and yellow stains all up and down the front, as well as some crusted, dried patches.

"… I think this is the dirtiest my shirt has been in ages," he commented. Then, he looked as though a reluctant thought had entered his mind. He turned to Phineas, giving a facial expression that showed he had just decided upon some bad news.

"Phin, we need to get clean. And by that, I mean get these shirts off," he said with a sideways point to Phineas' T-shirt, which was also somewhat stained.

"But how?" Phineas asked with puzzled interest. "I'd have to fit my entire arm through your sleeve, but then it would be on my shoulder, and I'm not going to fit my whole head."

Ferb shook his head directly, denying Phineas' logic. He replied, "We thought of it before. The scissors are downstairs in the kitchen drawer."

Phineas looked at him for a second, but wiped away his agreement and retorted, "We can't… I mean, Mom would get so mad."

"She would also get mad if she found out we've been wearing the same ones for almost three days."

With a little bit of a thoughtful stare into the corner of the room, Phineas then perked back up with a solemn inference. "Ferb… taking scissors to our shirts is like admitting we're never gonna fix this."

Ferb turned away from Phineas to look across the room to his own bed. "Haven't you thought about it?"

"…Sure I have," he said without looking up. "And I would be okay with it… but, living like this for the rest of our lives, would…"

"…take some getting used to," Ferb finished.

With a last distant glance at a random corner of the room, Phineas straightened up again. "Well. Enough thinking about confusing things. I agree we need to get these dirty clothes washed."

The scissors actually turned out to be sitting conveniently on the corner of the nearby table. Phineas took them and opened the blades carefully. Ferb lifted their arm above their heads so that Phineas could grab the corner of Ferb's shirt.

"Uh, Ferb," Phineas said after Ferb had done this. Phineas had had to put down the scissors in order to hold the fabric steady. "I kind of need that, so I can use my other hand to hold the scissors."

Ferb looked at the scissors lying on the bed. Then he took his other arm to take Phineas' place holding the shirt. "Here, I'll hold it and you cut."

"Okay," Phineas said as he grasped the scissors again. He placed the blades around the corner of the shirt. "I'm sorry, Ferb."

"Ah, don't be sorry. It's just a shirt," he said as he pulled the fabric taut. "And I'll be getting you back when I do it to you in a couple of minutes, anyway."

Going up Ferb's side, Phineas could feel the fibers snip between the scissors. He reached the under-arm, then slowly unrolled Ferb's long shirtsleeve from its place above their arm, and cut lengthwise down to the sleeve's wrist.

It lifted easily over Ferb's head. Shaking it with one hand, Ferb looked down at the fully stained, yellow front. Examining the torn threads for a moment, Ferb rolled it up and tossed it into the trashcan.

"I hate having to do that," Phineas commented.

"Don't worry about it, Phineas. I have plenty of shirts," Ferb replied as Phineas handed the scissors to him.

In the same manner, Ferb had snipped Phineas' T-shirt and he ducked his head out of it. When it had been thrown in the garbage, both of them sat for a moment on Phineas' bed.

"You know… it _does_ look a lot different when its not hidden under clothes," Ferb mentioned as they both leaned back on their arm, investigating it closer. "You can see all the skin. It looks a lot more… real."

After a second of looking, Phineas tossed his head and spoke up. "I'm getting chilly. How will we put on new shirts?"

Ferb thought. "We'll get clean ones and cut them like we did the others. Then we can put them on and wear a bunch of safety pins."

When Phineas had looked over to their closet for a moment, Ferb knew what he was thinking and added, "But… if we need a longer-term fix than that… maybe we can put zippers on some of them."

"Yeah, that would work… for long-term," he finally said. "…Let's stick with safety pins for now, though."

This temporary solution worked well, but Phineas and Ferb had to empty out their whole stash of safety pins before both shirts were sitting comfortably. Phineas had suggested using some extra fabric from their old clothes to line the inside so they could not feel the cold metal.

"Ferb," Phineas said as a clear conversation-starter once they were both sitting on the bed, though now they had moved to Ferb's purple bedspread. Ferb looked at him inquisitively.

"What are we going to do tomorrow?"

Placing a hand on his chin, Ferb put on a thinking face. "It's still the weekend. We always do big things when we don't have to go to sch—"

But Ferb stopped talking when he saw the look on Phineas' face. It unmistakably showed that this was not what Phineas meant.

"I kind of just want to stay home," Phineas replied downheartedly.

"What? Why?" Ferb returned with partial astonishment. "You never 'just want to stay home.'"

"I've been thinking…" Phineas started. "…We've already found 'Standby,' 'Rewind,' and 'Reset.' What if… Ferb, what if we find 'Off'?"

It had occurred as a fleeting thought to Ferb, but he had preferred not bring it up. At Phineas' question, he just dipped his head, but kept a hint of optimism pointing towards his brother.

When Ferb did not reply, Phineas continued, "They are linked to the strangest of thoughts too… I mean, what if we walk past a flower pot, and you keel over next to me?"

"A flower pot?" Ferb said with skepticism.

"Why not!" came Phineas' exclamation. "It makes about as much sense as 'Reset' being linked to _Ice Fishing!"_

Then Phineas shot his hands up to his mouth, stood up from the bed, and looked to Ferb with fearful concern. "I'm-I'm really sorry, Ferb! I-I-I didn't mean to do that!"

But Ferb just kept sitting on the bed with his gaze up at Phineas. It did not appear that he had registered Phineas' apology. Lifting a hand, Phineas placed it in front of Ferb's stare until he got Ferb to focus on it. Then, Phineas directed Ferb's eyes up to his own.

"Ferb…?" he said with a questioning stutter. "Can you hear me?"

Ferb made no motion.

Phineas came to sit closer to him on the bedspread. He checked to make sure Ferb still had his eyes on him. "It'll pass over in a few minutes, Ferb, and you'll be okay. Just take some deep breaths, like this."

Taking exaggerated breaths of his own, Phineas raised his chest up and down without looking away from his brother, moving his left hand in congruence with the motion. "Can you do that? Can you take some deep breaths for me?"

Ferb didn't move from his slouched position sitting on the bed. He had his eyes fixed intently on every one of Phineas' motions, as if each was extremely interesting. Though, it seemed that he had interpreted none of what he had seen, and followed any movement as a pet might follow a light.

"Oh, Ferb, I'm really sorry," Phineas wailed, resting his chin against Ferb's shoulder. Ferb just leaned a bit to the right, as he failed to resist the weight.

"I can't believe how strange it must be for you," Phineas kept speaking. "I know you can't understand language anymore. But I don't want to stop talking with you. I must be confusing you more. I'll try to be quiet…"

Phineas took Ferb gently by the shoulders and laid him back on his pillow. Sliding overtop, Phineas laid down on the purple covers beside his brother. Then, as he let the room stay quiet for him, Phineas voiced one last sentence directed at Ferb.

"Feel better soon, okay?"

* * *

It felt like it could have been hours since any sound had been heard in the room. A soft whisper broke it, when it came into Phineas' ear.

"Phin…"

Phineas sat up further and looked over. He spoke almost disbelievingly, "…Ferb?"

Ferb had pressed the base of his palm hard against his forehead. His eyes were squinted tightly.

"My…" he voiced with difficulty. Phineas thought he could make out the word, but it sounded more like a groan. "…my head hurts."

"I know, Ferb, I'm sorry," Phineas repeated for the thousandth time. "Can you… can you sit up?"

"I-I…I think so…" Ferb tried to say, attempting to raise himself to the side of the bed. Phineas just followed his movement with care. He stayed as close to Ferb as he could, coming up to sit next to him.

"That… um, that lasted a lot longer than it did at the park," Phineas muttered as he looked him over. Ferb had his head rested lowly in his hand.

"Temporarily…" Ferb replied quietly.

"I'm-I'm glad about that, too," Phineas said warily. "But Ferb… It's time we start looking for a solution, I think."

Ferb nodded in uneasy agreement as he kept his head down and left his fingers sticking though his hair.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

"A reverse switch. That's what we need," Phineas was saying as he led the way out to the backyard. Ferb followed him out the sliding glass door.

"If we can find a way to change, um, the polarity or something, maybe it will…"

But then they both stopped in the grass. Phineas looked down as if he was surprised by what he found.

"That's right, we don't know where the machine went…" he remembered in dismay as he bent down his head. He looked up at Ferb as the thoughts in his mind turned. "…Where did the blueprints go?"

"I think we left them outside, here on the grass," Ferb replied as he surveyed the plain backyard. "They must have blown away, with whatever it was that made the machine disappear."

"Aaah," Phineas said with his hand on his head. "I hope I can write them down from memory…"

But Ferb had nudged Phineas in the shoulder. He pointed over to the side of the asphalt driveway, where Phineas immediately spotted an orange object with folds in it. It was lying untouched on the line between the grass and driveway.

"Is that…?" Phineas started, coming up to investigate the almost-flat circle that was crumpled on the ground.

"Well, at least we found our basketball," Ferb mentioned. But Phineas had picked it up and let it lay floppy in his grip.

"Its all… deflated," Phineas observed. Then he tossed it to his side and shot his stare up to Ferb.

"Ferb! Are you going to explode?" He then clutched both hands onto the tops of Ferb's shoulders, as if he was trying to hold him together. "I don't want you to explode!"

Keeping calm, Ferb lightly lifted his own arm off his shoulder, followed by sliding off Phineas'.

"It's okay, Phin," he said comfortingly. "There's lots of reasons why a basketball might deflate."

"But, but… This is OUR basketball. From OUR machine. Ferb… did we do this?"

"Phineas," he said lightly to his brother. "I don't know. But clearly we aren't making any headway standing out here in the cold."

"Yeah… uhh, yeah," Phineas slowly mouthed his agreement. He pulled himself up a bit, thinking pictures hard through his head. "Come on, let's go upstairs and I'll try to draw out the blueprints again."

* * *

A light scratching noise was heard steadily as Phineas drew a line with his white pencil on the blue paper before him. A pile of eraser shavings were scattered all along the sides and top of the desk. The trashcan at his chair's feet had several crumpled pages at its bottom.

Ferb was sitting in a folding chair beside Phineas, looking over his shoulder. "I think the pistons fired to the left, not the right," Ferb mentioned.

"Uhhgg, I don't remember!" Phineas moaned. "I can't get it right. I never thought I'd have to re-draw it afterwards…"

"I'll try to help all I can," Ferb promised. "But, you were the one who thought it up originally."

"I know, I'm trying…" Phineas said with another vigorous erase. "But I don't remember exactly how it went."

Ferb didn't reply back, so Phineas leaned closer to his paper to try adding a finer line. He delicately traced the picture in his mind, before spinning his pencil around to the pink end again.

"No, that's not right…" he said almost to himself. Turning to Ferb for feedback, Phineas stopped. It was then that he noticed that Ferb had grabbed his pillow off the floor, had placed it on the wooden desk, and now had his cheek situated comfortably against it.

"FERB!" Phineas shouted, shoving him hard. "I haven't even thought about anything!"

"Easy, Phineas," Ferb soothed, lifting his head from the pillow. "You didn't do that, I was actually legitimately tired. It's been a long day, and I thought I would nod off for a bit."

"Oh… sorry," Phineas apologized guiltily. "It's just… I dunno. For some reason I get all nervous when you're sleeping."

"Uhh, Phin…" Ferb started slowly, but sped up towards the end of the words. He clearly spoke with more uncertainty than his reassuring tone a few seconds before. "…You're nervousness might be warranted…"

Phineas picked up on Ferb's insecurity, and mirrored it. "…And why is that, Ferb…?"

"I-I can't move my arm."

With a toss of his head, Phineas tried to either explain it or deny it, he didn't know. "Well, I'm using it right now, so I guess it would make sense that you cou-"

"No, Phineas," Ferb interrupted him. He tipped his eyes down to his right arm that was resting on the top of the desk, bordering the edge of his pillow. Ferb used their shared arm to point at it. "_My_ arm, Phin. It's _my_ arm that I can't move."

Letting his own mouth slack a bit, Phineas looked over at Ferb's hand. He reached over and took him by the wrist. Lightly lifting it, the weight of the arm sat heavy in Phineas' grip. Ferb's fingers drooped for a moment, before Phineas let it drop limply back onto the desk.

"…You can't?" Phineas asked, to which Ferb responded with a slow shake of his head. "Is it numb? Or tingling?"

"No, no," Ferb replied to both questions. "I can't even feel it at all."

"That's... not a good thing," Phineas answered hesitantly.

But Ferb had opened his mouth to run his tongue along its roof. "But, I'm thirsty," he digressed with a pucker.

Looking at his half-drawn paper, Phineas objected. "We can't stop now, we have to keep working... We... we... I... have to fix it..."

Giving him a helpful smile, Ferb stopped him in his rambling sentence. "We can take a break. I'm hungry, too."

Phineas took a glance up to his skewed pencil at the corner of the paper. "I-I guess some food will help me think better."

"And maybe by then I'll get my arm back?" Ferb suggested in an attempt to raise Phineas' spirits. "Everything has eventually worn off so far, right?"

Phineas didn't reply for a moment. When he did, it was while they were walking out the bedroom door. "Yeah, but I don't think my thoughts caused this one, Ferb."

Ferb followed Phineas through the doorway, but chose not to speak, realizing that Phineas might have had a point.

* * *

Grabbing some plastic tupperware cups from beside the kitchen sink, Phineas held them under the faucet. With one hand on the lever, he kept the other supporting the filling cup.

"You just wanted water?" Phineas asked Ferb, as he finished one cup and set it on the countertop. He was filling the second one now.

"Just water," Ferb answered quietly. Then his stomach grumbled. "... And maybe some dinner."

Since their mom wasn't back from her book group meeting, the boys had to fend for themselves when it came to food. Phineas came over to the pantry and pulled out a loaf of bread, along with some jam and a jar of peanut butter.

"PB&J sound good?"

Ferb merely nodded, while he followed Phineas' lead to the cutting board where Phineas had two paper plates lain out. As Phineas grabbed a knife, Ferb only stood beside him.

"...I feel so unhelpful," Ferb moped, following Phineas' hand movements as he opened the jar of peanut butter and started to push it over the bread. "You're doing everything, and I just get to stand here and watch."

Phineas paused for a moment and looked over to his right arm. "Well, you still have this one, right?"

"Yeah, sure, so I can move that one," Ferb said unenthusiastically, lifting up their shared arm from the peanut butter jar. Then he put it back on the counter and did nothing more with it. "But it's still _your_ arm. It's like... It's like you're just you, and I'm a..."

Ferb shook his head as he tried to make out what he was saying. "... I'm a parasitic growth on you."

_"Ferb,"_ Phineas said, placing down his spreading knife to the corner of the plate. "That's not at all what you are!"

Then Phineas straightened up and addressed Ferb in his eyes. "First of all, you're not _growing out of me, _ you're _attached to me. _That's two separate things. Second: You're not a parasite if you can walk and talk right next to me!"

The look on Ferb's face showed that he longed to rest his head on something. "... I sure do feel like one."

"Well, here," Phineas said as he finished up both sandwiches. Then he took one of the plastic cups and put it in their shared hand, and picked up the other in his own left one. "That arm can be yours, and this one can be mine. I don't need both."

Giving a small smile, Ferb lifted the cup to his mouth and took a sip. He meant to stand closer to the counter so that he could eat his sandwich, but to do so he was forced to set down his water, grab his other arm by its sleeve, and drag it upwards, finally setting it limply on the flat surface.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

Ferb had only partially finished one of his sandwich halves. Phineas was further on his meal, but still had a good ways to go before his was gone.

Picking up his plastic cup from the counter, Phineas left his half-eaten sandwich on the paper plate, and took a few sips. Standing beside Phineas, Ferb was downing the entirety of his cup with several gulps.

While Ferb tipped his head back further, Candace came walking into the kitchen, reading some newly-received mail.

"Uhhww, gross!" she reacted upon looking up from her papers, leaving them at her side, and gaping at her brothers. They both just stopped mid-drink and stared at her from over the rims of their cups.

She had her mouth slightly open and one eye squinted, holding a look of surprised disgust on her face. "Are you guys _drinking out of those?"_

Phineas looked back, and asked slowly, "Yeeeesss...? Was there a reason we shouldn't?"

"Yeah, duh!" she said without a moment of pause. "Eeeww, I found those in the _garage! _ They were covered in gunk, things next to the sink are dirty, Phineas!"

"Ooooh, sorry," Phineas said, clearly showing his own disappointment in himself. "They were upside-down, I thought they had been cleaned..."

But then there was a light, yet loud, tapping sound on the kitchen tile. Phineas looked down in reaction, and saw that Ferb's cup was bouncing with a roll along the white floor. Though it was harmlessly unbroken, the inch of water that had been still inside had splattered out of it in an array of heavy droplets.

"It's okay, Ferb, you don't have to be so surprised. A little dirt never hurt anyone," Phineas tried to convince him as he looked up. But Ferb was not looking with concern at Candace, as Phineas was expecting, but down at the rolling cup on the floor.

"It's-it's not that, Phineas," Ferb said through a cracking voice as he gazed downwards. "I-I didn't do that on purpose..."

Phineas followed, and looked at it as well. "Well, I didn't do it either."

"It's... gone, Phin," Ferb said, closing his eyes and shaking his head with a frown. "Now I can't move that one, either."

Opening his mouth, Phineas didn't have any words to say. Then Candace came up to stand next to them. She looked at them with a genuine worry.

"... He can't use your arm?"

Neither of them needed to reply, as Candace knew the answer from the sad looks they gave her.

"You said that you didn't want to get separated..." she started gently. "But if he can't use it anymore, maybe it would be for the best?"

"Candace, you're saying that just because he can't use it anymore that we should just cut it off?" Phineas argued in defense. "Well, he can't use his other arm either! Want to just cut that one off, too?"

"Guys..." Ferb said quietly. "I'm standing right here, and I don't like these ideas."

"Oh, Ferb, I don't mean it, of course," Phineas replied in guilt, turning back to him. Candace kept her eye on them.

"And you think you have a better idea, then?" she put out.

"We will... we'll fix it..." Phineas mumbled, moving a bit closer.

"Well," Candace remarked, with a point towards Ferb. "If he falls on top of you, don't get me involved."

Then she exited the kitchen with the warning, "I'm staying out of this."

"Ferb," Phineas whispered to him. "I don't know what's happening."

Ferb just leaned into him, unable to do anything else.

Phineas pulled away for a second. "Let's finish eating upstairs, instead of down here. I... I have to keep working."

* * *

The darkness of the black night sky coming in through the window was no help to Phineas' attempts at scribbling on his paper. The disposable plate sat beside him on the desk, holding a few crumbs and jelly globs.

He glanced his eye over to Ferb's plate, sitting beside Phineas'. It still had more than half a sandwich on it.

Reaching over to grab it, Phineas held it up to his brother's mouth. "Here Ferb, open up."

Ferb just looked at the meal floating before him for a second, then looked back down to Phineas. He sighed and said, "That's really nice of you, Phin. But I don't want you to have to feed me."

Phineas did not lower his offering. "Well you said you were hungry. How else are you going to eat it?"

With a slow look down at his right arm resting unused on his knee, Ferb replied with only a delayed blink. Phineas kept prompting him.

"I've kind of lost my appetite," Ferb gave his answer. He slid off his chair and made his way to the pile of covers on the floor. Phineas grabbed his clipboard, paper, and pencil off the desk to follow him.

"And who knows," Ferb was saying as he fell onto the fabric. "Maybe I don't even need to eat food anymore. Maybe I'm just feeding off of you."

"_Ferb!"_ Phineas scolded. "I already told you you're not a parasite!"

But Ferb had his face in the covers and his arm lying beside him. He tried to turn over. "And why's that? Because I can walk and talk?"

Phineas knelt next to him. He looked like he was trying to nod, but Ferb hadn't noticed; he had turned back around with the addition, "...for now."

"What do you mean by that, Ferb?" Phineas asked, though he knew the answer already from Ferb's concerned thoughts.

With a breath, Ferb elaborated. "...What if my feet are next, and you have to drag me all around the house?"

Phineas shook his head stubbornly. He drew up his pencil and clipboard as he positioned himself near Ferb. "That's not going to happen. I'm going to fix it before then... I just... need to remember how it went..."

"...It very well may happen," Ferb spoke softly. Phineas could feel the somber tone coming off of him as he said it. Ferb's thoughts had returned to the expired orange ball now sitting in the garage dumpster.

Ferb had turned away so that Phineas could not see him. "My body is shutting down."

"No, no Ferb..." Phineas denied with his eyes closed and a wince. "We still have time... The ball was smaller, and we tested it first, so it would give you a few more hours than it took the ball to..."

"Stop, Phineas. Please stop," Ferb begged with his head on the pillow. He looked upwards at his brother. "I know it's easy to break it down and analyze it. But I don't want you to start counting my minutes."

"Okk-okay," Phineas stuttered. He pushed his pencil back on the page and tried to see through his almost-closed lids as he traced a line. "I'm-I'm going to fix it..."

"I'm going to go to sleep now, Phineas," Ferb informed carefully and gently. He positioned himself lying on his back.

"P-p-please don't fall asleep," Phineas tried to request.

"I'll be alright, Phin. Sleep is good," Ferb said as he closed his eyes. "It'll all get brighter when the sun comes up."

Trying still to work on his paper, Phineas forced himself to nod. "Everything is always better in the morning."

Ferb's eyes drooped heavily, as he was unable to keep them open for any longer. As the thoughts in his mind spun, he could not stop himself from wondering how much time was truly left on his clock.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

Ferb took a loud breath as he focused his eyes. The bright yellow lamp beside him cast long dark shadows throughout the room. He tipped his head slightly to the left, and saw the dark outline of Phineas sitting upright, clipboard and paper propped up on his knees.

"...You're still up?" Ferb asked sleepily as he craned his neck.

"Oh, Ferb. I'm really glad you're awake again," Phineas sped out all in one breath. "I thought maybe, I mean... When I saw you close your eyes last night I thought maybe..."

"...That you wouldn't see me open them again," Ferb finished for him. Phineas tried both to avoid it and make eye contact at the same time, tossing his stare back and forth between nothing.

"I was... I was going to word it differently," he finally said. Then, he looked back over to the unmoving Ferb beneath his covers. "...Are you feeling any better?"

"Nothing worth getting excited about," Ferb answered, attempting once more to shift positions but making no headway. He chose to keep Phineas uninformed about the fact that he could no longer feel his toes, but he had a sneaking suspicion that Phineas somehow already knew.

"What time is it?" Ferb offered his question.

Phineas kept his eyes on the page. "I dunno. I checked about an hour ago and it was three."

Ferb struggled to look out the window. He saw the pitch-blackness of the starry night sky. "It's four... a.m.?"

Without an answer, Phineas kept his wide, red eyes fixed on the plan he was drawing. He scribbled over it with his eraser, digressing, "I can't get it, Ferb. I keep thinking I have it, and then remembering something different and changing the whole thing..."

He wiped the side of his palm over the paper, fluttering the many little eraser shavings. "It-it wasn't even supposed to do this... How can I write a reverse plan for a machine to fix something that it wasn't even supposed to do in the first place...?"

"Phineas," Ferb started, doing his best to look him in the eyes. "I don't know what happened to that basketball. But whatever happens in the next few hours... I don't want you to think you caused it."

Phineas finally glanced up from his paper for the first time in several hours. Ferb just gave him a sigh and wanted to look downwards.

"Would it help if I told you I can feel our arm again?"

Taking a little breath, Phineas paused his gaze over Ferb for a moment, and then lifted his and Ferb's arm away from its place supporting the clipboard. He balanced the board on his knee so that he could use his left hand. Almost hesitantly, Phineas rubbed his hand all over their arm with vigorous pushes. "...You can?"

"No. No, I can't feel you rubbing it," Ferb sadly conveyed. "But it hurts."

As Ferb said this, Phineas grew quiet and paid a moment of attention. Then he looked down and realized, "Yeah... it hurts for me, too. Like a sharp ache."

Ferb nodded sideways on his pillow. "I can't feel it, but it hurts from the inside."

"That's good, right?" Phineas said with a glint of optimism. "Hurting means healing, that's what Mom always says."

"Yeah," Ferb answered in a whisper, turning his head to find a more comfortable position. He began to shut his eyes once more.

Then he heard the light sounds of a scribble coming from the direction of Phineas beside his bright lamp. Ferb didn't bother to reposition, but spoke up, "Go to sleep, Phin."

"No, I can't. I'll stay up all night until I can fix it."

Ferb returned to closing his eyes. "You're tired. You need to get some rest."

But Phineas refused, shaking his head as he blinked at the paper before him. "I'm not tired. I can stay up."

"I _know_ you're tired, Phineas. Or had you forgotten that I can read your mind?" Ferb said with a smile hidden in the darkness.

Phineas tried to smile back. "Oh, yeah."

Ferb went back to his sleeping position, adding, "We both need our rest. And your staying up is making me more tired."

"It is? I'm sorry, Ferb," Phineas apologized. "I guess it would be nice to get some sleep..."

It looked as though Phineas was exhausting a large amount of willpower to simply put his pencil down. He bit his bottom lip and a tear formed at the edge of his eye, as he let out a suppressed cough, eventually forcing himself to leave the clipboard on the floor beside him.

Moving down, Phineas situated his feet comfortably under the covers. He turned with the secret intent to keep watch on his brother, but reluctantly realized that Ferb had had a point. Once Phineas felt the warm and fluffy pillow on the side of his face, he could not help but give in to his tiredness.

* * *

With a wipe against his face, Ferb rubbed his temples in an effort to get rid of his splitting headache. It was this that had woken him up, not the bright sun through the window, and not even the escalated pain in his arm.

Making circles with the tips of his fingers, Ferb thought he might have suppressed it, when he froze. He could feel the shape of his fingers pressed over his closed eyelids, and realized that it was he who had put them there. He also remembered that he was successfully sitting upright in his pile of covers.

Shooting his eyes open, Ferb pulled his hands away from his face and looked down at them. He was holding all his fingers spread out before him, as he recognized them as his own. Then he quickly pulled up his left arm and checked it, seeing nothing there but a bare, quite normal elbow.

"Uhh, Phineas!" Ferb called out, grasping a handful of covers in both his fists and tearing it off of his brother. There, Ferb found Phineas fast asleep, happily snuggling his pillow.

Ferb cleared his head with a shake. It did not take much for Phineas to be awakened, as Ferb pushed gently at his shoulder.

"F-Ferb?" Phineas asked as he blinked his eyes open. The first sight that met him was Ferb kneeling beside him, with his hand on Phineas' shoulder. Phineas' face slowly grew from interrupted sleepiness, to confusion, and then ecstatic hope. His eyes opened wide as he uncurled his arms from around his pillow and looked down at them.

"Ferb!" Phineas repeated a second time, now dropping his fog of sleep instead for bewildered happiness. He sat up quickly out of the covers, finally able to give Ferb a proper hug.

Then he pulled back and looked at him with a slight doubt. "…Are we dreaming again?"

At this, Ferb looked around at the room. "…I don't think so," he said with reasoned thought.

"But, what did we do?" Phineas asked, still trying to process between his joy and skeptical bafflement.

"It had to have been something we did. Something like this doesn't just randomly happen," Ferb suggested. "What did we do all yesterday?"

Taking out a finger to point and aid in his thought, Phineas looked upwards and relayed, "That day was so _long,_ it couldn't have been anything we did in the morning."

"Okay, so we came home from the picnic," Ferb started.

"…We went upstairs," Phineas thought out. "…and then we got our shirts off."

Ferb nodded. "Right. Then we just sat there for a bit."

"And…" Phineas dipped his head. "And then I reset your brain again… I'm sorry about that, Ferb…"

Stopping him, Ferb just replied, "It's okay, Phineas. But we're trying to find out what _fixed_ it."

"Yeah," Phineas said with a shake of his head. "So then we went outside. But the machine had been gone for a while, nothing out there could have done it."

"Alright, so then we came inside. We ate peanut butter."

"Magical curing peanut butter?" Phineas looked at Ferb with surprisingly convinced eyes. "With everything we've seen, I'd believe it."

But Ferb, taking Phineas' comment as seriously as he could, was tossing his finger back and forth as he looked to the corner in contemplation. "No… but then something else happened. We were drinking our water, and Candace came in and said-"

"That our cups were covered in _gunk!"_ Phineas exclaimed in realization. "We were _drinking_ the oil runoff from our machine?"

Ferb scratched his head. "I was wondering where those cups went."

Phineas drew up his lip in revolt. "Wow, Candace was right, that _is_ actually kinda disgusting."

"Well," Ferb pointed out, at Phineas' reaction. "I'd rather drink a cupful of oil than, apparently, the alternative."

"Most definitely," Phineas replied. Then something occurred to him, and he looked as though he had been struck with a sense of regret and loss. "Ah, but Ferb… you think we can still read our minds?"

Ferb looked back with a prompting stare, but after a moment he released it. "No, no I don't think so."

"Too bad," Phineas said with a glance downwards. "That was pretty awesome."

But then Phineas moved his glance over to his ready blueprint paper as a plan started to form in his mind.

"But Ferb, that gives me an idea!" Phineas said as he pointed at his brother. "I know what we're going to do today! _Telepathy!_"

* * *

**Liked this story? Don't forget to post a Review!**

**All My PnF Fanfics:**

**PnF: Timeloops**

**PnF: Ghosts**

**PnF: Stolen Identity**

**PnF: Stuck Like Brothers (Viewing)**

**PnF: Mind Trapped **

**PnF: Species is a Constant**

**PnF: Lifeleap (Currently Posting)**


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